Four years ago, Rachel Sager (then Damiano) and Katie Medart created a video called “I Resolve Movement: Response to Gender Identity Politics.” In it, Sager (an assistant middle school principal) and Medart (a middle school science and health teacher) discussed a series of proposals regarding transgender students’ pronouns, name changes and bathroom access at school.
On the I Resolve website, points include relabeling bathrooms as "anatomical male" and "anatomical female" and stipulating that "students and staff cannot be mandated to call students by preferred names and pronouns. They can only be given the choice to."
The website says the goal of the movement is to "speak out on gender identity education policy and offer solutions that would allow teachers to continue teaching without violating their conscience and that would respect the rights of parents."
Sager and Medart were both fired for violating district policies. They then sued the district, claiming their rights to free speech and religious freedom were violated, among other points.
"The superintendent and principal, along with the other Defendants, quickly resorted to retaliation and censorship to appease public critics of Rachel and Katie’s speech," their complaint reads. "And the principal, who led the school district’s investigation of Rachel and Katie, even subjected them to questioning on whether their religious beliefs make them unfit to be public educators."
Both were later reinstated.
In 2023, a U.S. Magistrate Judge dismissed the case, writing that the school district’s legitimate administrative interests outweighed the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.
"While the decision to terminate Plaintiffs' employment was made according to District policies, those policies did not violate Plaintiffs' constitutional rights," the decision reads.
The case then went up to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. This summer, a three-judge panel agreed with parts of the previous ruling and disagreed with other parts, sending the case back to the lower court.
On Thursday, the School Board voted unanimously after an Executive Session to approve a settlement agreement.
Details of the settlement weren’t made available.
Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Medart and Sager, said it would send JPR a statement about the settlement on Monday but did not.
A spokesperson for Grants Pass School District 7 wrote in a statement Monday, "After meeting in executive session on Thursday, the Grants Pass School Board voted unanimously to approve an unspecified settlement agreement. Because the agreement has not yet been finalized, the district is unable to provide additional information at this time."
A statement on the "I Resolve" website reads, "We have settled our lawsuit with the District! More details to come soon."
The Grants Pass Daily Courier has reported that as part of the settlement, Medart was asked to submit her resignation. On Monday afternoon, she was still included in the district's online staff directory.
